The City of Cape Town is calling on residents to provide feedback on its Draft Water Strategy which opened for public comment on Friday.
The strategy, which aims to ensure that the City will be more resilient to future droughts, outlines the municipality’s plans to ensure greater water security over the next 10 years as it moves towards becoming a water sensitive city. The public participation process gives residents one calendar month, from 15 February to 16 March to scrutinize the City’s plans and give constructive feedback on it.Improving water management
The plan proposes a number of strategies to help the City improve its water management, including increasing its available capacity by more than 300 million litres per day over the next ten years based on scenario analysis. The City says it also intends to meet a greater portion of its water demand from alternative sources including groundwater, water-reuse and desalination; however it will continue to rely on rain fed dams for most of its water which is much cheaper than alternative sources of supply.Avoiding sever water restrictions
“The recent drought was a harsh lesson for us all. This strategy is the product of extensive work conducted by the City in consultation with a range of local and international experts in the field of water, and has been created to protect Cape Town from the harsh effects of drought in the future, and we aim to do everything possible to avoid the implementation of such severe water restrictions again,” notes Xanthea Limberg, Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste. “We have now entered a time characterized by great uncertainty, where previous models for weather predictions and associated planning can no longer be relied upon. I have great confidence in the strategy and would like to encourage all residents to engage with it during this period, and share their considered inputs,” she adds. Residents can view and submit their comments:- Online: www.capetown.gov.za/haveyoursay
- Written submission: at subcouncil offices
